Long time, no see everybody! I apologize for my extended absence from this blog; I’ve had more than enough personal/professional obligations to keep me busy the last couple of months. But if there’s one thing that could motivate me to get Creation From Chaos out of mothballs, it’s supporting the efforts of my fellow artists, and that’s exactly what I’m here to do today.

The project at hand is a new short film called Just Death. Developed by fellow Landmark Sunshine Cinema alums, it looks to be a challenging but absurd piece of satirical filmmaking about the death penalty. To me, it sounds like exactly the sort of art the world needs right now, and I hope you’ll all join me in supporting this great project on Kickstarter. To celebrate the launch of their crowdfunding campaign, I sat down with writer/director Aaron Kelley, cinematographer Lucas Miller and producer Josh Michaels to discuss their influences and goals for Just Death.

Our cat Sam passed away yesterday at 12:31 PM. The people at the Angellicle Cats Rescue, where we found Sam, called him “Sam Diamond” because of the white pattern in his chest fur. Shiran’s niece and nephew called him “Mar Sam” which is Hebrew for Mr. Sam. The paperwork at our vets’ offices listed him as Sam Hodgdon, because he was a part of our family. To me and Shiran, he was just our buddy Sammy.

There were spots in our apartment that were always Sam’s: the space under the hutch I used for a bookshelf, on top of the perpetual pile of laundry next to the dresser, at the base of our dining room table, in the doorway between the living room and the entrance hallway. And he was at home on the furniture most of all, readily jumping onto our armchair, our couch, or our bed, curling up against the pillows or adjusting any nearby blankets to maximize his own comfort. These were his spaces, more than anyone else’s, and you always knew right where to turn if you wanted to see our boy Sam.

Now they’re all just desperate voids where Sammy should be. And it doesn’t stop there. The magnets on the fridge from the pet store and the vets’ offices, the rack of cat food on the window sill, the collection of toys and treats on the table, the litter box against the wall: they’re all gone too, and our apartment just feels bare without them. It doesn’t even feel like an apartment, but rather a collection of empty spaces lacking the one thing that linked them all together.

I was never an animal person in my childhood, and before I adopted Sam I would’ve never guessed how much a 15-pound cat could fill an apartment… or a life. But now everything feels like a hollow afterthought to our little pal, and how wonderful it was to have him in our family.

Of course, things will get better; as time goes on the empty spaces will feel less so, the yawning hole in my heart will heal, and I’ll be left with all the nice memories and photographs that Shiran and I can reminisce over and cherish until we join Sam on the other side. But for now, the world is gonna be a little less bright and a little more quiet, and I’ll pay that piper in a heartbeat because having that mischievous little cat in my life the past two-and-a-half years was worth it.

We’re taking a little time off this week, but you don’t have to! You can put your Memorial Day to good use by watching these romantic comedies before they’re abandoned in a Netflix-free wasteland on June 1:

We celebrate what would have been the great Nora Ephron’s 75th birthday in style with one of the most iconic and infamous romantic comedies of all time: You’ve Got Mail. Do we agree about it, or will we go to the mattresses? Get your dial-up ready and take a listen.

Are our mid-20s just too late in life to watch Sixteen Candles for the first time? Maybe. Did we still find a lot of stuff to talk about anyway? Definitely. Let’s take a critical look at the first movie John Hughes ever directed.

It’s April 26, which means it’s Alien Day, in reference to the planet LV-426 in the original film (whether this is better or worse than May The Fourth Be With You is up in the air). That led to a lot of activity today, from screenings to sales to debate over the possibility of Newt being resurrected for Neill Blomkamp’s film. For me though, LV-4/26 has led to the discovery of a forgotten old comic book that may be one of the best Alien stories ever.